I LOVE Quizzes ~ by Dana Stenholtz

I would like to welcome Dana Stenholtz to Chin Deep. She is one of my best friends and one of the best writers I know. Just for the record, I’d rather hear her answers than Angelina’s any day. Maybe not Johnny’s, but Angelina’s FOR SURE! Hee hee… Enjoy!

I’m obsessed with answering questions about myself.

You know what I’m talking about. Those online quizzes that supposedly pin-point what drink you would be, what character from Harry Potter you would be, what genre of movie best depicts your life… all discovered after answering a mere five or ten questions about your favorite pizza topping, what you listen to on the radio, and what color your socks are. It’s astounding!

I have spent HOURS answering these things. Not all in one sitting, mind you. Maybe ten minutes a day (or an hour, if I’m really on a roll). I’ve been trying to figure out what it is that makes them so popular, and my answer is this: these quizzes are the equivalent of having a therapist who agrees with everything you say for the first half-hour, and then spends the second half of the session telling you how amazing and brilliant you are.

So why WOULDN’T I (and so many others) be obsessed with answering them?

I’m pretty certain those quizzes on Facebook, Myspace, and floating around from email inbox to email inbox are only one step above the game of MASH (Mansion Apartment Shack House) that every girl I know played on a regular basis back in junior high (or later).

Still, it’s curious, isn’t it? Especially the more “scientific” ones that are actually in published books and psychology journals and what-not. What would they have said about Julie Andrews, if she’d answered, “raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens” when they asked her what were a few of her favorite things? How do these “experts” come up with the summed-up personality profiles that they do, based on simple answers to our own favorite things?

These are rhetorical questions, obviously. I don’t expect anyone reading this to give me a detailed, well-researched answer. Unless you really want to. I will not deny you that, if it’s what you want. (I think that may very well mean that you should have been sorted into the House of Hufflepuff, if you were a beverage at a bar, you’d be a Dry Martini, and your life-story would be best depicted as a Documentary, were it to be made into a movie someday.)

After all that blah-blah-blahing, here is what I’m going to do. I’m going to give you a list of some of my favorite things. It’s not that fascinating. It’s not like you’re entering the inner sanctum of Angelina Jolie’s or Johnny Depp’s heart ‘n soul. It’s just me. I like letting people in on who I am. And while knowing that I prefer tulips to roses, and wine to beer may not be earth-shattering (I am not revealing any deep, dark truths of who I am here), it can be interesting. I also like knowing who other people are. So, perhaps this can lead to YOU sharing your OWN “favorites” list. Because, really… I don’t need to be the one doing all the talking.

~Some of Dana’s Favorite Things~

Color: Almost every shade of green and purple. Especially army/olive green and lavender.Type of music: I love music of all kinds, but my favorite would have to be true alternative, indie, 80s punk/new wave, and classical piano.Band: U2Singer: FEMALE: Kate Bush; MALE: Lenny KravitzRomantic movie: “The English Patient”Scary movie: “The Shining”Dramatic movie: “Dead Poet’s Society”Funny movie: “A Fish Called Wanda”Animated movie: “Shrek”All time favorite movie: “The Princess Bride” is one of many.TV Show (past or present): Fringe, Lost, Xena, Dead Like Me, Firefly, X-FilesCartoon: The SimpsonsTalk show: ConanFood: Spring Rolls with peanut sauce, spicy sesame chicken, grilled swordfish, fettuccini alfredo, salads of all kindsDessert: BaklavaPizza topping: CheeseFruit: Any kind of berry.Veggie: Pea pods, fresh green beans, cucumber (although I think it’s technically a fruit).Drink: Margarita, Liquid Cocaine, Duck Fart, the Coffee Thingy, Raspberry Martini, Mojito, Bloody Mary, many varieties of wine… oh, let’s face it. I like alcoholic beverages.Cereal: OatmealStore: Barnes & Noble, Torrid, Target, Pier 1 Imports, Sox AppealBook: I could not begin to list them all. “Till We Have Faces” (CS Lewis) always comes to mind first, closely followed by 17,000 others.Magazine: Real Simple, Writer’s Digest, Yoga JournalWild animal: PanthersPet: Dogs (or my Crazy Cat. I truly love my cat, but I am not, overall, a cat person).Month: OctoberDay of week: SaturdayTime of day: The Gloaming Hour!Season: AutumnHoliday: May Day, HalloweenFlower: Tulips, Daisies, Sunflowers, LiliesLetter: I find an extreme amount of value in all letters. When you use them together, they make words ‘n stuff.Number: 9, 27, 444Finger: ThumbInsect: If I must pick, I choose dragonflies, or butterflies. There is a story about butterflies that I will share another time, though. I used to be scared of them.Country: I think I’d love just about anywhere in Europe.State: Oregon, WashingtonCity: Of those I’ve been to, Chicago and Portland.Shape: Those paisley thingies.Sport to play: Bocce Ball, Fencing, Archery, Tai Chi Chu’an (although that’s probably not technically a sport), Yoga (that’s not really a sport either, but whatever).Board game: Scrabble, Balderdash, Master Clue, Mind Trap

One final note. I took an on-line quiz once that would purportedly answer the often-wondered-about “What Will Your Famous Last Words Be?” I thought it would be fun, because, usually, we will never know for ourselves what our last words will be, let alone if they became famous. Based on the questions I answered, the last thing I will ever say while on this earth will be:

“So, you’re a cannibal.”

Tell me that knowledge isn’t worth ten minutes out of your life!

Thanks Dana! I can’t wait to answer these questions and compare them with yours. Remember the “Myspace” days? when you, me, Sherida and Chantelle spent hours working on these quizzes? I believe they have value! We all got to know one another better! Priceless!